Our Amazon Link

If you are shopping on Amazon this holiday season, please use this link to get there.  When you do, Amazon donates a percentage of your purchase to our adoption fund.  It doesn't cost you anything.  We were able to raise $74.00 last Christmas season and would love to double that amount this year. 

Jason and Kim's Adoption Link

Thank you!!

Holiday Shopping and a Brief Adoption Update

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving will be here in a couple of days and Christmas is only a month away.  If you need some gift ideas, be sure to visit my Tastefully Simple website for your holiday shopping. Tastefully Simple products make great gifts for family, friends, teachers, coworkers, and gift exchanges. There are gift options available for all budgets, and these are great items that people will enjoy using. Plus, every time you order from me, you contribute directly to our adoption fund to bring our second son home from Bulgaria.  Yes, we're still registered with the MOJ and are waiting for a referral.  We hope it will happen soon, but we are prepared to wait as long as it takes for the right little one to be matched to us.  At this time we have been registered with the Bulgarian government for 18 months.  We waited 22 months to be matched with Nikolas, but that was a few years ago.  Everything will happen when the time is right.

So let's think about shopping!!  Here are a few gift ideas, but you can find many more on my website.  Go to www.tastefullysimple.com/web/kvanroekel and select my party when you check out.  You'll even receive a free jar of Buttered Rum sauce with your $60.00 purchase.  Yum!!

 

Happy Holidays!!

CHI Family Reunion 2014

This past weekend we travelled to Platte City, MO for the Children's House International Family Reunion.  Although we didn't start our second adoption with this agency, I am so thankful that we have been able to work with CHI and become a part of such an amazing family. 

We left on Thursday after work/school and spent the night in St. Louis.  A friend who I met through adoption works at a hotel in the area, so we were able to visit with her for a bit on Friday morning before continuing our journey.

We arrived at Basswood Resort around 4:00pm on Friday.  We're not really campers, so we chose to stay in a suite at the campground, which was more like a simple hotel room.  Our group was fortunate to have access to the clubhouse all weekend, so we were able to use that facility as our general meeting place.  It was equipped with a full kitchen and tables/chairs, and as an added bonus, it had air conditioning. 

Nikolas quickly found some familiar friends and also made many new ones.  He played hard all weekend and had a blast.  We also had a great time visiting with old friends and meeting others in person for the first time.  These events are so relaxed because it really does feel like one big family.  It's so much fun to spend time with the folks that we chat with on Facebook and to see how well the kid are doing.

We swam, played games, laughed and worshipped together.  We had tasty meals, great chats and just a lot of fun with each other.  It was also nice to meet and chat with Nina and Rebecca, who are the two fabulous ladies who manage the Eastern European programs for CHI.  Can't wait until our next reunion!!  Here are a few pictures from the weekend. 



Campground Entrance

 

Group Photo

I was in charge of the photo booth.  Nikolas tested out the props.

 



Chilling at the Pool



At the Playground



Water Balloon Fight

 

A Not-So-Festive Festival

I grew up in Dana, Indiana.  Dana is a small farming community with a population of around 600 that's located about a mile east of the Indiana/Illinois border on Highway 36.  Each fall while I was growing up I remember looking forward to the Ernie Pyle Fireman's Festival, or Danafest, as my friends and I called it. 

We would get so excited when the program was dropped off at the local businesses.  It was multiple pages and consisted of articles, photographs and a schedule of events that we would look through to determine our schedule for those three days.  We had to decide how we would decorate our bikes for the bike decorating contest, which costumes our pets would wear in the pet parade, and what type of act we would put together for the talent show.  We practiced with our partners for the Jitterbug contest, thought of possible questions we would be asked during the Queen contest, and selected our shifts to help out at the town meals with our fellow 4-Hers.  There were fun activities such as the kids games, the duck pond and other carnival games, and lots of exciting rides.  There were educational activities such as the Fire Safety House and the Jaws of Life demonstration.  We always took at least one tour of the Ernie Pyle home.  The evenings were fun, too.  We could put our friends in jail, play Bingo for hours, and buy tickets for the merchandise wagon that was overflowing with prizes.  The streets were lined with booths full of items to purchase and great fair food to enjoy.  Everyone came out to enjoy the festivities, and on Saturday, friends from neighboring towns came to the parade and stayed for the rest of the evening.  Those three days were packed with so much fun that we were worn out when the festival came to an end. 

Maybe I remember it that way because I was a kid and the festival was the most exciting thing that ever happened in little Dana.  Or maybe it really was that much fun. 

Nikolas and I made a trip to Dana this weekend to visit with the family and to check out the annual festival.  When I arrived at my parents' house I was ready to take a look at the schedule of events.  Instead of the carefully designed program that I was expecting to see, I was handed a single sheet of white paper that appeared to have been quickly typed up and photocopied.  As I read through the list of events, I noticed that there wasn't much going on.  The change in the program was only one of many changes that I noticed.  We still ate at the fish fry, watched the parade, and stuck around for the big Saturday night drawing, but it just wasn't the same.  There were only a couple of merchandise booths and food stands, and the excitement that I remember from my childhood just wasn't there.  It was sad to see something that I loved so much as a kid change so much.  I understand that things change over time, and Dana has certainly changed a lot over the past 30 years, but I left the festival last night feeling a little bummed.  Maybe it was the weather, or maybe it was something else.  At least I have some toffee from Brooke's Candy Company and some Brown's Kettle Corn to cheer me up.    

Three Year Update

On July 25th we celebrated "Nikolas Day".  Three years ago we picked him up in Sofia, Bulgaria and became a family of three.  Nikolas has made so much progress in the past three years.  He came to us as a tiny, scared little boy who had the skills of an infant.  He weighed 19 pounds and was 29" tall.  He was wearing a size 9-12 months clothing.  He walked unsteadily, didn't know how to play with toys, and didn't speak at all.  Today he is outgoing, friendly and caring.  He makes friends easily and gets along well with others.  He now weighs 38.6 pounds (10th percentile) and is 44" tall (75th percentile).

His gross motor skills have greatly improved, and he was released from private PT at the end of July.  He hasn't quite caught up to his peers, as his low muscle tone and range of motion prevent him from being able to complete certain tasks, but he doesn't let it slow him down.  He'll still receive a small amount of PT at school to help him continue to work on the skills that challenge him, such as hopping on one leg, skipping, and balancing on one leg.

His expressive speech continues to be his biggest challenge.  One of his speech therapists diagnosed him with CAS (Childhood Apraxia of Speech).  He's been working hard on his sound combinations in speech therapy each week and is really improving.  He is still very difficult to understand, but he's trying so hard.  He has a private speech session once a week and also receives speech therapy at school.  His vocabulary has expanded so much.  He understands how to form sentences and is using the correct tenses most of the time.  His receptive language seems to be right on track for his age.  He can successfully identify all of the letters in the alphabet, even when they are out of order.  He knows the sound that each letter makes and has even started sounding out basic words.  He still has a long way to go, but he's doing great!!

      

Birthday Memories

As another birthday comes around, I can't help but think about how I spent my birthday last year.  We had an extremely delayed flight out of Newark, missed our connection in Munich, and somehow managed to make it to Sofia about four hours later than originally planned.  We then met our translator, took a five hour drive through the Bulgarian countryside, and finally made it to our final destination.  The five days that followed were five of the most difficult days of my life.  After travelling to the other side of the world to meet a little boy who we thought would become our son, we realized that it wasn't meant to be.  Throughout the past year I have thought of this boy so many times.  I've wondered how he is doing and if he is okay.  I've worried about him.  I have wanted so much for his family to find him... and they did.

Last week I was blessed to be able to follow his mama's journey to meet him.  He was moved to a different orphanage earlier this year, and he is doing so well there. He's a different little boy than the child we met last summer.  He has a smile that will melt your heart.  He's interested in toys, he can drink from a cup and is starting to feed himself, and he enjoys the attention from his mama.  The little boy who refused most of our contact and seemed to be in his own little world is gone.  He's learning to trust and to love.  I watched the bond start to form between him and his mama, and it's so beautiful.  I know the reason it didn't work out for us is because he was meant to be with her.  I'm so thankful that they found each other and grateful that she will allow me to follow his journey home.  I cannot wait to watch him come home and thrive in his forever family.  That little boy will always have a little piece of my heart.   

And now that I know he's going to be okay, I feel like I can truly move on.  I'm ready to go back to Bulgaria.  I'm ready to meet my second son.  It's so hard to be patient, but I know we'll receive our referral when the time is right.  I miss Bulgaria.  I love so many things about that country.

The fields full of beautiful sunflowers...

The amazing architecture...

Shopska Salad...

Sour Cherry Cappy Juice...

Our dossier was first submitted to the Bulgarian government in May of 2013.  We've seen friends receive referrals in anywhere from 6 months up to 3.5 years, so we really don't know when we'll be invited to return to the country that we love so much.  But when our time comes, we'll be ready to go.  

A Much Overdue Update

Once again, I've been horrible at updating the blog.  The past several months have been very busy for our family.  Nikolas has officially graduated from preschool and will be starting kindergarten in a couple of months.  He's made so much progress since he started preschool, but we still have a long way to go.  His most serious delay continues to be in his expressive speech.  We're planning to schedule an MRI over the summer so we can rule out any neurological issues.  He has weekly private speech and physical therapy sessions and will resume his therapy at school in August.

We've taken a lot of trips to the zoo recently.  Nikolas enjoys the new orangutan exhibit, and we like to take advantage of the special hours for members.  Now that it's warm, the splash park is also a big hit.  I'm sure we'll have many more zoo trips over the summer. 

Last weekend, we visited Conner Prairie for the first time.  Nikolas
enjoyed playing with the baby animals in the barn, especially the baby turkeys.  There were a lot of neat things to see, and we look forward to visiting again in the future.

In adoption news, there really isn't too much to share.  We have an appointment this week to get fingerprinted for our annual USCIS update.  We're still waiting on a referral from Bulgaria.  We do watch the waiting children profiles that are posted by our agency, but we just haven't found the right little boy to complete our family.  We know that he'll come to us when the time is right.

As we wait, we are working to come up with the funds that we'll need to make two trips to Bulgaria when the time comes.  I've been selling Tastefully Simple as an ongoing fundraiser, but I've hit a rough patch with that lately.  In order to stay active, I still need several hundred dollars in sales by the end of the month.  I have a few potential parties lined up for July, but I just need to get there first.  Check out my website (www.tastefullysimple.com/web/kvanroekel) if you are interested in placing an order to help.  I'm also looking for friends who are willing to host an online/Facebook party from now to the end of the month.  All you have to do is share the link on your blog, via e-mail or on your Facebook page.  You can earn some great host incentives and it won't cost you anything.  Any help is much appreciated!!

Spring Break

As nice as it would be, we're not one of those families who have the ability to go away to a warm beach for spring break.  Between saving money for our adoption and not having the extra vacation time, we have to stick close to home for now.  We do have a couple of weekend getaways planned for the summer, and we're pretty excited about those.  We tried to make Nikolas' two-week spring break as fun and memorable as we could without spending a lot of money and using a lot of vacation days.

On the first Saturday of spring break we took a trip to the Indianapolis Zoo.  The zoo is one of Nikolas' favorite places to go, so we've purchased an annual pass each year since he came home.  We try to go at least once a month, so it's well worth the money.  Since it's officially spring, the butterfly exhibit was open and the lorikeets were out for feeding.  Nikolas was also pleased to see that the little playground area was open again.  The animals enjoyed the cooler weather and were more active than we've seen them in a long time.  Because it was still a bit chilly, there weren't a lot of people there.  We had a great time!!

On Tuesday afternoon I took Nikolas out for lunch at Taco Bell (his favorite) and then to Monkey Joe's, which is an inflatable indoor playground with all things bouncy.  I had a free coupon from our Discover Indy book, so it was a great deal.  He had a fun time climbing on the fixtures, bouncing in the bounce house and going down the slides.  There were kids running around everywhere.  He loved it and has requested to go back several times.  We stayed for about two hours, but he would have stayed much longer if we had the time.  Such a neat place!!

I took some vacation time on Thursday and we spent the part of the day at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  Apparently the rest of the state of Indiana had the same idea, as it was super busy.  The parking garage was full and the line to purchase tickets was out the door.  We received a family membership for Christmas and have been several times this year.  Thankfully our membership allows us to bypass any lines and walk right in.  It's a huge museum with plenty to keep us busy for hours, but due to the number of people, we only stayed for about two hours.  The bottom floor was so crowded that we chose to skip those exhibits and go right to the 4th floor.  Nikolas' favorite area is the construction area where he gets to shovel mulch and haul rocks.  He also enjoys the trains, the sand tables, and the carousel.  I'm looking forward to going back to see the China exhibit that opens in May.

On Sunday we took a family trip to Cincinnati.  We enjoyed lunch at Chipotle and then did some shopping at Jungle Jim's.  We always have fun checking out the interesting products and picking up some treats to bring home.  They have an amazing bakery, lots of fun fruits and veggies, and a great supply of international products.  After our shopping trip we met up with the some friends at a nice park so the adults could catch up and the kids could burn off some of their excess energy.  Nikolas and Emilia came home from the same Bulgarian orphanage in 2011.  They enjoy playing together and we hope they will be friends for a long time.  It was a fun day!!

I took another vacation day on the second Thursday of spring break.  After an early morning trip to Riley to have his night splints adjusted, we drove to Dana to spend the day with my mom.  We went to Terre Haute for lunch and some shopping at the mall.  Nikolas loved shopping for shoes and was so excited to pick out two new pairs.  He also had fun playing in the play area near the food court.  We were able to stop by my brother's house for a bit for a quick visit.  Nikolas had been wanting to see his cousins and enjoyed being able to spend some time with them.  He doesn't typically sleep in the car, but he was out after about 30 minutes and didn't wake up until we turned into our subdivision.

Between our little adventures and his therapy appointments we were able to get out of the house a bit, but he's still very ready to go back to school tomorrow.

Chestita Baba Marta!!

Chestita Baba Marta!!

It's hard to believe that March 1st has already arrived.  Nikolas and I made bracelets earlier today to celebrate Baba Marta day.  We also made a few to share with friends.  It was a bit challenging with three kittens in the house, but they turned out great.  We really do enjoy celebrating Bulgarian holidays and traditions.  We hope to someday go back to Bulgaria for a homeland visit when Nikolas is old enough to appreciate it.

Lots of positive things seem to be happening in the adoption world.  We've watched as several of our friends brought their little ones home this year and others have received referrals to meet their children.  It's been so much fun watching the kids blossom with the love of a family.  We can't wait until it's our turn to go through that experience again.

We met with our social worker earlier this year for our annual home study update.  Home studies in Indiana are only good for one year.  Updating the home study requires us to get fingerprinted at the police department for a local background check, visit our doctor to have him sign off on a form saying we're still in good health, redo our CPS checks, and meet with our social worker for a couple of hours.  We'll also need to use this home study to update our USCIS approval, which expires in a few months.

Holiday Happenings 2013

I've been really bad about updating the blog lately.  We've just been so busy and it hasn't been at the top of my list.  December was full of holiday fun.  We decorated our tree, had a holiday open house for my Tastefully Simple business, went to Christmas at the Zoo, enjoyed Nikolas' therapy Christmas party, decorated a gingerbread house, baked lots of goodies and celebrated Christmas three times.  Although we enjoy the season, we're ready for life to get back to normal.  Jason goes back to work tomorrow and Nikolas goes back to school on Monday.  I've worked most of the holiday season, and that's been a challenge with them both being here.  Instead of writing about everything, I'm going to cheat and post a bunch of pictures instead.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Nikolas and Mommy at the Zoo

Visiting with Santa

In Front of the Tree

Decorating the Gingerbread House

Play Date With His Best Friend From School

Dr. Nikolas

With His Cousin on Christmas Day

Opening Presents